I assumed that the date was chosen deliberately. I believe that there is already a history of demonstrations on this day. Also I would guess that some schools would voluntarily close if the students made a compelling case (if you are not going to have any students...), particularly in areas of strong anti-gun sentiments.

Also I would guess that some schools would voluntarily close if the students made a compelling case (if you are not going to have any students...)

I certainly don't know all about every jurisdiction (including our own) but I recall, when I was in high school (30-some years ago, when we still had grade 13) there was something of a tradition among seniors, to choose one day in the lovely spring and use their legal right to sign their own note exempting them from school for the day.

The school freaked out! And maybe it was because the teachers still had to show up to teach the handful who didn't participate, but I'm given to believe it was also that school funding is dependent on attendance numbers -- when students aren't there, schools aren't funded for teaching them, seeing as they're not there to be taught.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 in 1889, which makes it such an inappropriate date to play into the hands of the NRA morons. Not only that, but 420 is used by pot smokers as a symbol of their pastime.

The school freaked out! And maybe it was because the teachers still had to show up to teach the handful who didn't participate, but I'm given to believe it was also that school funding is dependent on attendance numbers -- when students aren't there, schools aren't funded for teaching them, seeing as they're not there to be taught.

I am thinking if there was enough support and right pitch was made that school officials/school boards could be convinced that this was an educational experience. Perhaps even as life changing as a trip to Science World.

Just got through watching Trump's 'listening session' with some carefully vetted students from Parkland.

It all started with a prayer. What a joke. These kids made their demands. They want proper protocol and 'emergency drills' to stop this from happening again. Not one of these kids said anything about what will REALLY stop this sort of thing from happening again. Banning weapons of war for public sales.

This was a carefully planned publicity stunt and photo op.

The moral of the story is nothing is going to change. The more militant kids (who were shut out of this farce) have just been spit in the face. Trump and his gang of dogs don't take them seriously,don't care what they have to say and have no plans to change a fucking thing.

Well, FWIW, it's not like this last year was the first time women ever said "we've been on the business end of some nasty shit". But for some reason, this year peaked, and we got #MeToo out of it, along with a refreshing dribble of actual action. Perhaps this will be the year for gun control advocates, too. More to the point, perhaps they sense that sustained visibility, and real movement building, is what it takes.

Personally, I'm not of the "no guns at all" side. If people can own a nail gun, an axe, ten knives or a car/truck/van, it's not clear to me why they shouldn't be responsible enough to own a gun. But at the same time, I question the need for 100-round magazines, bump stocks and kevlar-piercing rounds. I doubt that any of those are for simple sale in Canada, and I agree that this isn't really our battle (partly for that reason) but how can it be that any moderation is unbearable?

I think the U.S. needs to tone down the "free gun with every new bank account" nonsense, but I think they also need to ask why everyone is so eager to kill everyone else.

Someday young people in the U.S. will reawaken the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s and 70s, and actually fight for something. But not today, not now, not any time soon. I hope and pray I'm wrong about that.

oh you’re definitely wrong! No question there. Things will only change in the US when the corporate wealth dictatorship will allow it. If poorer powerless young people can change things, things would have been changed long time ago and we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now would we?

What afucking idiot. And this is the NRA solution. I told you nothing would change. Armed teachers,military?

That's it. I'm done. I hope they all gun themselves down. I know longer sympathize and I no longer empathize.

​​I'm just going to sit back and watch the carnage,watch them gun themselves down with a bag of caramel popcorn.

America and military grade weapons of death is their choice. They've made it loud and clear. I couldn't care less anymore. I don't care if it's toddlers,teenagers,adults or old ladies. Fuck them all. This is the change they want --- more guns. That shithole is a lost cause. Why should anybody care any more? Just grab a chair and cheer them on as they become armed to the teeth and shoot each other down.

So solidarity for what? Arming more people? That's their solution?

have fun April 20,kiddies.Your governemt has spoken and they've decided to make your schools MORE dangerous. And you millenials are as stupid as the generations before you. Save your crocodile tears for someone who cares...and that certainly isn't your government. State or Federal.. You deserve what you get. I wash my hands with your banana republic.

I'll celebrate in solidarity 420 with fellow Canadians something peaceful that has finally worked (it seems). I don't give 2 shits about the USA. I hope they all kill each other. They'd be doing the world a great,great service.

"The US mainstream media are going nuts. They now make up and repeat stories based on the uncritical acceptance of an algorithm they do not want to understand and which is known to produce fake results..."

Fuck Russia. I have no idea why people here are so pro-Russia. I don't think it's a stretch to think that the Russian government is trying to sabotage American elections and political discourse. I'm sure the Americans are guilty of the same shit. Fuck both those corrupt countries.

Are you doing something wrong by commenting on the event or is it only Russians that are evil for commenting on America?

Go ahead help the NATO propaganda machine beat the war drums.

No, the "Tennessee GOP," operating out of Moscow is a well known Russian bot. If they want to comment, why do they have to hide before the fictitious name to make them appear as if they're from Nashville? And if Putin and Co. screwed with the U.S. elections to help elect Trump, which they did, you shouldn't be surprised that the people now suffering under Trump bite back.

Moskowitz turned to me. “That’s the legacy of Marion Hammer,” he said.

Hammer is the National Rifle Association’s Florida lobbyist. At 78-eight years old, she is nearing four decades as the most influential gun lobbyist in the United States. Her policies have elevated Florida’s gun owners to a uniquely privileged status, and made the public carrying of firearms a fact of daily life in the state.

They all deserve to die. Who cares? I didn't even need this article to know that Americans care more about their guns than their children. So they can cry into their beer when it's THEIR child who is blown to pieces by an assault rifle meant for war,not hunting,not domestic self defense. The world should turn their backs on them.

They can mourn to an empty room. Why should any of us care? They don't. So fuck them.

Also, not wishing to interfere with our American cousins' momentary mass movement, but I find it tragicomic that someone is calling for a school shutdown protest TWO MONTHS FROM NOW. I guess that's to highlight the urgency of the matter.

What a sad, diversionary farce. Someday young people in the U.S. will reawaken the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s and 70s, and actually fight for something. But not today, not now, not any time soon. I hope and pray I'm wrong about that.

I think you are wrong. I also think that the choice of a date 8 weeks from now may be to make sure that it is mobilized as well as possible and organized across the country. I would credit those acting now with more than a farce, especially as the adults have managed nothing. By having an 8-week lead in there is also a longer news cycle and this is two months closer to the election requiring only six months of things to keep it alive. I would not dismiss this. 8 weeks gives time for some adults to find the courage to support this as well.

I do not agree with the idea that Canadians should walk out and protest this. This is another country and students here have other issues they should be active about. However, marking it in solidarity is not a bad idea. I would think that black armbands in solidarity on that day would be appropriate -- and that would be the case no matter what country. These are students and too many are dying. A walk-out makes no sense but marking the occasion in solidarity does -- I think. In Canada my have sexual violence, growing economic inequity, racism and many other issues that apply to this country and could benefit from the involvement of students. Given the amount of misogyny / violence against women on campuses IN CANADA, by students, I think that protesting another country is smug and hypocritcal. Armbands say the world notices and care.

I don't say America can go F itself because they are not equally the cause and there are victims there.

However, the US did this to itself as a group. They could fix this but do not want to.

However, if we think about social theories, we can be reminded that Marxian theory contends that people of the same class in differet countries have more in common than those of the same class in the same country. While we cannot change what the US is doing, we can appreciate that their society is dominated by a capital class that cares more about the profits from guns than the children of other classes there. The dominant class thinks its private schools are the protection and don't care about the others. Yes, the US is a screwed up country, but we do not have to believe the lie that it is a democracy, that most US people have much of a say in how they are governed and to what priorities the government will pay attention to. I think the US system is so tilted that it may not be recoverable through existing institutions. Their elections and economy are so far from fair that to blame them all equally is no different that the people under a dictatorship. Some dictatorships care more for the welfare of their people than this.